United States

Introduction: The Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence (SCOARE) program provides mentors with knowledge and strategies to achieve more effective mentoring of their mentees in scientific communication (SciComm) skills. Previous Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, &amp; Hackett, 1994) studies of the relationships between development of SciComm skills, how they are mentored and used, and mentees’ intention to remain in research careers have suggested that increasing mentors’ awareness of the importance of SciComm and how to mentor it, especially as it relates to both personal and science identity, can play a role in increasing mentees’ self-efficacy and sense of belonging in research careers, as well as reinforce their intentions to remain in research careers (Cameron, Lee, Anderson, Trachtenberg, &amp; Chang, 2020). Based on this evidence, we developed a mentor-training workshop with learning objectives closely linked to the SCCT constructs. We aimed to test whether such a workshop intervention for faculty mentors can have an enduring impact on their mentees. Here we present preliminary results from an analysis linking mentor-reported post-workshop data with their matched mentee-reported data. The findings from this analysis describe the impact of two particular mentoring strategies, ‘acknowledging [mentees’ efforts in SciComm]’ and ‘providing quality feedback’, on mentees’ six months after the mentor’s workshop participation.

Methods: Participants for the current study were doctoral and postdoctoral mentees of the mentors who participated in half-day SCOARE workshops. (Mentees do not attend the workshop.) We invited at least one mentee per mentor to take a pre-survey 2 weeks before their mentors attended the workshop and post-surveys 6 months after the workshop. The online mentee survey includes items regarding discomfort in the research environment because of linguistic background, self-efficacy in scientific communication, and perception of the quality of communication with mentor. The three discomfort questions were 1) have you been judged unfavorably because of the way you speak English (definitely not to definitely yes), 2) how comfortable would you feel speaking your home style of English to your mentor or other senior scientists? (completely comfortable to very uncomfortable), 3) Thinking about the writing and speaking necessary to be successful makes me reconsider my goal of pursuing a research career (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Mentors who participated in the SCOARE workshops were also participants for the current study. On the corresponding faculty mentor survey, mentors were asked which mentoring strategies presented in the workshop they had applied after the workshop with three response options, “didn’t use the strategy”, “used the strategy in the same way as before”, and “used the strategy differently/more”. For the current study, we focused on two strategies from the workshop: giving constructive feedback and providing acknowledgment. 
Mentee outcomes of self-efficacy in SciComm and perception of quality of communication with mentors were assessed using mixed-effects linear models with an unstructured covariance and with the intercept as a random effect. The models were estimated using maximum likelihood via PROC MIXED in SAS (version 8.2). Five predictors were used for each mentee outcome: three items of discomfort and two mentoring strategies. This study has approval from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center IRB (Protocol 2018-0206).
Results: One hundred-sixty mentees completed both pre-and post-surveys and 95 mentors reported the mentoring strategies they applied with their mentees. Among mentees who completed both surveys, 76% were doctoral trainees, 66% were female, 30% were first generation, 60% were White, 11% were Hispanic/Latinx, 6% were Black or African American. Sixty percent reported that their doctoral program was in a basic science.
Three-level multilevel growth model results revealed that mentee perception of the quality of communication with their mentors significantly increased when the mentors applied a new or enhanced “feedback” strategy (F=5.49, p=.03). In particular, “feedback” strategies significantly influenced mentee perception of the quality of communication when mentees reported high levels of feeling “judged unfavorably due to the way I speak” (F= 12.78, p&lt;.001). Overall, trainee self-efficacy in writing and speaking increased 6 months after the workshop; however, mentees who reported feeling uncomfortable talking to their mentors at baseline experienced even greater impact on self-efficacy in writing and speaking if their mentors used a new or enhanced “acknowledgment” strategy (SE writing: F=16.54, p&lt;.001; SE speaking: F=8.88, p=.003). In addition, mentors’ use of new or enhanced “acknowledgement” strategies was powerful for mentees who reported strongly reconsidering their pursuit of research careers due to the SciComm required for success; their self-efficacy in writing increased (F=18.98, p&lt;.001). Mentee comments include ‘Our meetings are much more productive and our mentor/mentee relationship has grown. We are on the same page the majority of the time now’; ‘There has been an improvement in the relationship regarding my career goals and future direction. More oriented toward individual progress’; ‘My mentor provides feedback on the work that I do, both positive and constructive. My mentor&#39;s notes on what I am doing well make me feel encouraged and appreciated. The constructive feedback I get helps motivate me to improve on skills that are not as strong. This prepares me for my future career. I value my mentor&#39;s input immensely.’
Conclusion: Results from this preliminary analysis suggest that doctoral and postdoctoral mentees whose mentors learn and apply SciComm mentoring strategies from the SCOARE workshop show improvements in several predictors associated with sustained intention to remain in research careers. Mentors who increased or enhanced their practices in giving feedback and acknowledging mentees’ efforts in SciComm had greater positive impact on mentee-reported quality of communication and mentee self-efficacy in scientific writing and speaking, and the impact was greater among mentees who reported feeling discomfort in the research environment at baseline, who may be at higher risk of attrition. The strategies learned by the mentors in the workshop require no special knowledge of linguistics, English grammar, composition, or public speaking; acknowledgement of trainees’ work, an especially effective strategy, is also especially easy to apply and does not require a time commitment for either mentor or mentee. Additional results of the intervention study are forthcoming. 


13th Conference on Understanding Interventions 2021

Teachable Mentoring Strategies that Benefit Diverse Mentees: 
Preliminary Evidence from the ‘Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence’ Mentor-Training Program

language variety

retention in research careers

scientific communication

mentor-training

mentor

mentee

diverse

UI is excited to announce the rescheduled 12th Annual Conference on Understanding Interventions December 10 & 12, 2020! As you may recall, the original conference scheduled back in March 2020 had to be cancelled due the worsening global conditions, and further declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stay tuned for details regarding the virtual conference.

On December 10, 2020 from 12:00-5:00pm (EST), and December 12, 2020 from 11:00am-5:00pm (EST), UI will host the Virtual 12th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference powered by Underline. Attendees will experience plenaries, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations on hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in STEM careers. The conference will continue to facilitate the dialogue among education, behavioral, and social science researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM fields who participate in intervention programs. Graduate students in these fields are strongly encouraged to attend. Workshops, sessions, and posters will communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

12th Conference on Understanding Interventions 2020

12th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference continues to facilitate the dialogue among education, behavioral, and social science researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM fields who participate in intervention programs. Workshops, sessions, and posters communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

Introduction: The Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence (SCOARE) program provides mentors with knowledge and strategies to achieve more effective mentoring of their mentees in scientific communication (SciComm) skills. Previous Social-Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) studies of the relationships between development of SciComm skills, how they are mentored and used, and mentees’ intention to remain in research careers have suggested that increasing mentors’ awareness of the importance of SciComm and how to mentor it, especially as it relates to both personal and science identity, can play a role in increasing mentees’ self-efficacy and sense of belonging in research careers, as well as reinforce their intentions to remain in research careers (Cameron, Lee, Anderson, Trachtenberg, & Chang, 2020). Based on this evidence, we developed a mentor-training workshop with learning objectives closely linked to the SCCT constructs. We aimed to test whether such a workshop intervention for faculty mentors can have an enduring impact on their mentees. Here we present preliminary results from an analysis linking mentor-reported post-workshop data with their matched mentee-reported data. The findings from this analysis describe the impact of two particular mentoring strategies, ‘acknowledging [mentees’ efforts in SciComm]’ and ‘providing quality feedback’, on mentees’ six months after the mentor’s workshop participation.

Methods: Participants for the current study were doctoral and postdoctoral mentees of the mentors who participated in half-day SCOARE workshops. (Mentees do not attend the workshop.) We invited at least one mentee per mentor to take a pre-survey 2 weeks before their mentors attended the workshop and post-surveys 6 months after the workshop. The online mentee survey includes items regarding discomfort in the research environment because of linguistic background, self-efficacy in scientific communication, and perception of the quality of communication with mentor. The three discomfort questions were 1) have you been judged unfavorably because of the way you speak English (definitely not to definitely yes), 2) how comfortable would you feel speaking your home style of English to your mentor or other senior scientists? (completely comfortable to very uncomfortable), 3) Thinking about the writing and speaking necessary to be successful makes me reconsider my goal of pursuing a research career (strongly disagree to strongly agree). Mentors who participated in the SCOARE workshops were also participants for the current study. On the corresponding faculty mentor survey, mentors were asked which mentoring strategies presented in the workshop they had applied after the workshop with three response options, “didn’t use the strategy”, “used the strategy in the same way as before”, and “used the strategy differently/more”. For the current study, we focused on two strategies from the workshop: giving constructive feedback and providing acknowledgment. 
Mentee outcomes of self-efficacy in SciComm and perception of quality of communication with mentors were assessed using mixed-effects linear models with an unstructured covariance and with the intercept as a random effect. The models were estimated using maximum likelihood via PROC MIXED in SAS (version 8.2). Five predictors were used for each mentee outcome: three items of discomfort and two mentoring strategies. This study has approval from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center IRB (Protocol 2018-0206).
Results: One hundred-sixty mentees completed both pre-and post-surveys and 95 mentors reported the mentoring strategies they applied with their mentees. Among mentees who completed both surveys, 76% were doctoral trainees, 66% were female, 30% were first generation, 60% were White, 11% were Hispanic/Latinx, 6% were Black or African American. Sixty percent reported that their doctoral program was in a basic science.
Three-level multilevel growth model results revealed that mentee perception of the quality of communication with their mentors significantly increased when the mentors applied a new or enhanced “feedback” strategy (F=5.49, p=.03). In particular, “feedback” strategies significantly influenced mentee perception of the quality of communication when mentees reported high levels of feeling “judged unfavorably due to the way I speak” (F= 12.78, p<.001). Overall, trainee self-efficacy in writing and speaking increased 6 months after the workshop; however, mentees who reported feeling uncomfortable talking to their mentors at baseline experienced even greater impact on self-efficacy in writing and speaking if their mentors used a new or enhanced “acknowledgment” strategy (SE writing: F=16.54, p<.001; SE speaking: F=8.88, p=.003). In addition, mentors’ use of new or enhanced “acknowledgement” strategies was powerful for mentees who reported strongly reconsidering their pursuit of research careers due to the SciComm required for success; their self-efficacy in writing increased (F=18.98, p<.001). Mentee comments include ‘Our meetings are much more productive and our mentor/mentee relationship has grown. We are on the same page the majority of the time now’; ‘There has been an improvement in the relationship regarding my career goals and future direction. More oriented toward individual progress’; ‘My mentor provides feedback on the work that I do, both positive and constructive. My mentor's notes on what I am doing well make me feel encouraged and appreciated. The constructive feedback I get helps motivate me to improve on skills that are not as strong. This prepares me for my future career. I value my mentor's input immensely.’
Conclusion: Results from this preliminary analysis suggest that doctoral and postdoctoral mentees whose mentors learn and apply SciComm mentoring strategies from the SCOARE workshop show improvements in several predictors associated with sustained intention to remain in research careers. Mentors who increased or enhanced their practices in giving feedback and acknowledging mentees’ efforts in SciComm had greater positive impact on mentee-reported quality of communication and mentee self-efficacy in scientific writing and speaking, and the impact was greater among mentees who reported feeling discomfort in the research environment at baseline, who may be at higher risk of attrition. The strategies learned by the mentors in the workshop require no special knowledge of linguistics, English grammar, composition, or public speaking; acknowledgement of trainees’ work, an especially effective strategy, is also especially easy to apply and does not require a time commitment for either mentor or mentee. Additional results of the intervention study are forthcoming. 


symposium

The annual UI conference has grown from a meeting to a community of more than 6,000 researchers, program officers, evaluators, program directors, training faculty, and others within STEM, and now operates with a mission to mutually inform scholarship and practice, develop and enhance the community interested in educational interventions, and provide professional development for all STEM persons. UI held its first Virtual conference in December of 2020 in response to Covid-19 restrictions that forced the cancellation of the original March 2020 in person meeting. Born out of necessity, the virtual conference introduced a format that provided pre conference availability of symposia, Deeper Dives and Poster presentations. The 13th Annual Understanding Interventions Conference will continue with that design and we foresee future conferences adopting aspects of that format in reaching a virtual audience as well as those who attend the conferences in-person.

Attendees will experience plenaries, workshops, symposia, and poster presentations on hypothesis-based research on interventions and initiatives that broaden participation in STEM careers. The conference will continue to facilitate the dialogue among education, behavioral, and social science researchers, evaluators, and faculty in STEM fields who participate in intervention programs. Graduate students in these fields are strongly encouraged to attend. Workshops, sessions, and posters will communicate effective strategies from successful STEM intervention programs, present results from empirical research studies, and synthesize the translation of research findings into practice on STEM learning, undergraduate research, graduate education, and student retention.

The cost to attend the conference is $150. There are special rates for post-doctoral fellows and graduate students, as well as conference grants that can be provided for those with need. Registration for the conference is open, with additional information to come.

The annual UI conference has grown from a meeting to a community of more than 6,000 researchers, program officers, evaluators, program directors, training faculty, and others within STEM, and now operates with a mission to mutually inform scholarship and practice, develop and enhance the community interested in educational interventions, and provide professional development for all STEM persons. 

BUILD (BUilding Infrastructure Leading to Diversity) is a NIH-funded program aimed to promote diversity in the biomedical and behavioral sciences by engaging and retaining undergraduate students of diverse backgrounds in health-related research. New and returning undergraduates (N = 40) in the one to two-year research program participate in a Summer Undergraduate Research Gateway to Excellence (SURGE) program for eight weeks in three cohorts. The goal of SURGE for students new to the program (junior “Year 1 Scholars” and senior “Fellows”) is to help trainees to develop cohesive cohorts, to acclimate them to their research environment and faculty mentor’s research, and to develop their science identity and sense of belonging as a researcher; and for returning students (“Year 2 Scholars”) is to prepare them for applying to graduate programs in the fall. SURGE is led by doctoral level University staff and faculty as well as Graduate Mentors (Master's students). From 2014-2019, SURGE was an in-person once or twice weekly experience. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with ongoing racial injustice which impacted students and the personnel who work with them (Lederer et al., 2020). The program’s training team immediately pivoted to address the challenges that the pandemic and racial injustice produced. The resulting intervention took the form of multiple modifications to the SURGE program. 

The primary purpose of this descriptive case study is to describe the modifications while another team of researchers will present outcomes in a companion submission (See Psychosocial impacts of COVID-19 and racial injustice on undergraduate summer research experience trainees). The case study will provide background information on the program, its participants, and the SURGE model that preceded the pandemic and the heightening of racial injustice. Next it will present the problem by outlining the challenges which emerged simultaneously for students (e.g., personal loss, loss of sense of community, financial and emotional stress, academic and personal uncertainty) and the program (e.g., lack of research availability, loss of family involvement in BUILD, technology issues). To address those challenges, program personnel made significant modifications to SURGE that included adapting SURGE content to virtual format, adding new culturally sustaining activities, facilitating safe space discussions, selecting student representatives for weekly feedback, developing alternative research activities for students whose research was halted, and others (Kreiger, 2020). The authors argue that the program modifications became the intervention for supporting students during a pandemic and time of ongoing racial injustice. 

Our presentation will describe the modifications and detail the methods (steps) we took to implement them, during a period of persistent personal and programmatic uncertainty and upheaval. Discussion will include lessons learned such as the importance of developing contingent plans for the future, centering student voices when faced with unprecedented challenges, continued use of virtual and/or hybrid program delivery, and developing a sense of community for students in virtual settings. Lessons learned will inform recommendations for those who work with undergraduates from diverse backgrounds, along with reflections about ongoing challenges, areas for improvement, and additional questions that program personnel need to consider. 
References. 

Kreiger, N. (2020). ENOUGH: COVID-19, structural racism, police brutality, plutocracy, climate change—and time for health justice, democratic governance, and an equitable, sustainable future. American Journal of Public Health, 110(11), 1620-1623. 
Lederer, A.M., Hoban, M.T., Lipson, S.K., Zhou, S. & Eisenberg, D. (2020, October 31). More than inconvenienced: The unique needs of U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120969372 




Reflections on CSULB BUILD Program Response to COVID-19 and Racial Injustice: A Descriptive Case Study

Science Self-Efficacy, Academic Self-Concept, and Their Associated Factors in Freshmen at a Historically Black University

Shiva Mehravaran, MD, MIH, MSc;1† Hamideh Taraji, DrPH;2 Farin Kamangar, MD, PhD1; Payam Sheikhattari, MD, MPH;2 Christine Hohmann, PhD1

1 Department of Biology, School of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, Morgan State University, Maryland, 21251, USA
2 Department of Public Health, School of Community Health and Policy, Morgan State University, Maryland, 21251, USA

†Corresponding author: shiva.mehravaran@morgan.edu

Keywords: science self-efficacy, academic self-concept, undergraduate, academic outcome, historically Black university
Abstract
Introduction. Self-efficacy and self-concept are two important constructs that influence an individual’s behavior. Self-eﬃcacy is deﬁned as a person’s confidence in their capability to successfully perform a particular task (Bandura, 1997). Such beliefs inﬂuence people’s decisions, efforts in given endeavors, flexibility in the face of adversity, and level of accomplishment. Self-concept is defined as a person’s perception of themselves, and it can be useful in explaining and predicting how one acts (Bong & Skaalvik, 2003). In academic settings, self-eﬃcacy and self-concept often pertain to students’ conﬁdence in their capacity to perform academic tasks such as preparing for exams and conducting their own research. Students’ perceptions of their capabilities and their confidence in performing necessary tasks to achieve goals in academic settings is an important and essential asset that contributes to the enrichment of students’ knowledge and skills (Bandura, 1997). Educational institutions are increasingly recognizing the role of science self-efficacy (SSE) and academic self-concept (ASC) in academic motivation and learning (Artino, 2012) and their importance for college student success (Meral, Colak, & Zereyak, 2012). This study was conducted to examine SSE and ASC and identify their associated factors among freshmen at a historically Black university.

Methods. The 2018 Freshman Survey developed by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) was administered to incoming first-year students at the beginning of the Fall semester at Morgan State University, Maryland, USA. Additional information was retrieved from the institutional database at the end of Fall 2020 semester. We examined associations of SSE and ASC scores with background information (gender, race/ethnicity, first generation status, financial concern, degree aspiration, academic major), scores on other main CIRP constructs (Pluralistic Orientation, Habits of Mind, Social Self-Concept, Science Identity, Social Agency, and Likelihood of College Involvement), and academic outcome metrics (persistence, cumulative GPA, and cumulative course completion rate) up to Fall 2020.

Results. Of the 472 students included in the study, 327 (69.3%) were female and 417 (88.3%) were African American. Mean SSE and ASC percentage scores were 68.6% and 73.5%, respectively. Multiple regressions analyses with background variables showed that a higher SSE score was associated with male gender, having no financial concern, and certain majors (Nursing and Biology). A higher ASC score was associated with having no financial concern and aspiring to obtain a graduate degree, and it was significantly lower in Psychology compared to all other majors. Across majors, the inter-gender difference was greatest in Computer Science where females had lower and males had higher SSE and ASC scores. SSE and ASC significantly correlated with each other and all the other CIRP constructs examined in this study. SSE showed the strongest correlation with Habits of Mind (r=0.476) and the weakest correlation with Likelihood of College Involvement (r=0.123). ASC showed the strongest and weakest correlations with Social Self-Concept (r=0.591) and Science Identity (r=0.096), respectively. Students with higher SSE and ASC scores had higher GPA at the end of their first semester (Fall 2018); the association was statistically significant for ASC. In the long-term, students with higher SSE and ASC scores were more likely to persist to their 2nd and 3rd years, although the associations were statistically significant for SSE only. Both SSE and ASC showed inverse associations with 3rd year academic outcomes, and higher scores were associated with lower cumulative GPA and course completion rates and vice versa; only the association between SSE and Fall 2020 cumulate GPA was statistically significant.

Conclusion. In this detailed analysis of data from freshman in a historically Black university, differences in the levels of students’ SSE and ASC were found to be strongly related to their gender, financial status, choice of major, as well as their scores in other CIRP constructs examined in this study. Students who persisted to their 2nd and 3rd years of study had significantly higher baseline SSE and ASC scores, but their GPA and course completion rates seemed to have an inverse relationship. Further longitudinal studies can help understand how SSE, ASC, and other CIRP constructs can be used as predictors of academic success and in case-control studies. Overall, results identified certain areas that should be of interest to other researchers who aim to inform educational policies and interventions to overcome barriers towards academic and career success. 

Acknowledgements. Research reported in this publication was supported by ASCEND Center for Biomedical Research at Morgan State University and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1GM118973. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

References
Artino, A. R. (2012). Academic self-efficacy: From educational theory to instructional practice. Perspectives on Medical Education, 1(2), 76–85.
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control. Macmillan.
Bong, M., & Skaalvik, E. (2003). Academic Self-Concept and Self-Efficacy: How Different Are They Really? Educational Psychology Review, 15, 1–40.
Meral, M., Colak, E., & Zereyak, E. (2012). The Relationship between Self-Efficacy and Academic Performance. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 1143–1146.

Science Self-Efficacy and Academic Self-Concept Among Freshmen at a Historically Black University

The COVID pandemic has had devastating personal and career impacts on millions of people in all walks of life, including established scientists [1,2]. However, much less is known about how recent biomedical PhD graduates are navigating the pandemic. We have been interviewing a group of PhDs students for over 10 years, uniquely positioning us to investigate how recent PhD graduates are navigating the pandemic. Recruited a decade ago, participants were less subject to potential selection bias that can occur in new studies. The study duration also allowed for rapport to grow between participants and interviewers. Our data reveal how young scientists responded to pandemic-related challenges. But they often seized new opportunities and reflected carefully on their roles in science, future careers, and life choices.

Our findings, drawn from annual interviews with 58 individuals, fit into two sections. First, we report on themes: work and productivity; mentors and networks; job transitions; and life outside work. Our data illustrate a range of experiences and highlight sources of opportunity and challenge. We explore questions such as: Given the disruption and restructuring of lab time, what led many to conclude as a new postdoc did, “it was a surprisingly productive time”? How did mentoring and networking change when face-to-face interactions went virtual? For whom did career decisions become highly influenced by personal circumstances, such as a postdoc whose work-at-home time led to reconsidering his career and family roles? 

Second, we focus on academic careers for insights into how aspiring and new faculty navigated the pandemic, including: how trainees managed increasing uncertainty and job searches; and how new faculty navigated campus shutdowns. Some decided to shift away from academia; while for most, short-term doubts about academia were tempered with long-term optimism, as one postdoc said, “it can only get better.” 

Overall, we found that young scientists were able to utilize their skills and resources during a time that disrupted work and personal lives. Many shared responses similar to one graduate, “[The pandemic] is part of everyone’s life . . . [I] feel fortunate that it’s allowed me to move forward.” We found increased space for reflection on work, life, and values was a major factor that facilitated participants to “move forward” amidst challenges. We argue that PhD and postdoctoral trainees could benefit from more built-in time and space for reflection.

References 
Korbel, J. O., & Stegle, O. (2020, May 11). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on life scientists. Genome Biology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-020-02031-1

Myers, K. R., Tham, W. Y., Yin, Y., Cohodes, N., Thursby, J. G., Thursby, M. C., Schiffer, P., Walsh, J. T., Lakhani, K. R., & Wang, D. (2020, July 15). Unequal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientists. Nature Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-0921-y


How Recent PhD Graduates Navigated the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Balance of Challenges and Opportunities

STEM, medicine, and other STEM-intensive health professions are disciplinary areas (referred to here as STEM+) that lack diversity, undoubtedly reflecting many underlying issues in these disciplines as well as in society. Perhaps most important are disparities in access to high quality pre-college STEM education, since they lead to deep and persistent societal inequities. These disparities are especially evident in the STEM+ disciplines and are exacerbated by the strongly hierarchical organization of knowledge and practice in these fields. A strong foundation in pre-collegiate education provides a significant advantage, enabling strong performance in undergraduate programs, which in turn facilitates successful application into highly competitive graduate and professional STEM+ programs. There are many shortfalls in every stage of this pathway that impact the success of minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. 

The consequences of the lack of diversity in the STEM+ fields are wide-ranging and significant. Students who are educated in low-resource, underperforming K-12 environments often cannot access STEM curricula that are based on best pedagogical practices and face extraordinary challenges during the early years of their undergraduate education trying to catch up to their peers who had stronger pre-college STEM educational experiences. Students who come from under-resourced backgrounds often have few opportunities to glimpse the transformative advantages of a STEM+ career, leading to the perpetuation of significant societal inequities. The lack of diversity also directly impacts the STEM+ disciplines in several negative ways. The STEM+ practitioner community in the workforce is affected by an insufficient variety of lived experiences and is unable to draw upon the wealth and breadth of knowledge possessed by people who identify as having different cultural, racial, linguistic, religious, gender and sexual identity, and socioeconomic backgrounds. As a result, the perspectives brought to bear on problems may be too narrow in scope. There is ample evidence that suggests that scientific productivity is negatively impacted when a research team lacks diversity, as measured by publication data (Freeman & Huang, 2015). In addition, outreach to disadvantaged communities and efforts to provide assistance to them may not be optimally designed, or even appropriately prioritized (Page, 2008). 

Here, we focus on the mechanisms that assist STEM+ students to overcome socioeconomic and educational disadvantages. We emphasize the importance of mentoring in diverse and inclusive learning communities since our underlying rationale is that diverse populations of successful undergraduates are essential for creating professional diversity in the future STEM+ workforce.

Mentored Learning Communities to Enhance Diversity in STEM and Medicine

In this presentation we describe our mentor program which reaches 1,100 first-year students enrolled in Calculus I, Physics I, and Chemistry I and the impact of our curriculum on the academic behaviors of mentees and the mentors.

Creating Mutually Beneficial Communities of Care

Introduction: The lack of diversity among faculty at universities and medical schools in the United States is a matter of growing concern. At universities in the US, underrepresented minority (URM) researchers make up a mere 3.5% of the faculty in the life sciences and just 6.3% of the faculty in basic science departments at medical schools (Lambert et al., 2020). Women also remain underrepresented, accounting for only 39% of the faculty in the life sciences at universities and 35% of the faculty in basic science departments at medical schools (Association of American Medical Colleges, 2017; National Science Foundation, 2019). We hypothesize that there are a significant number of postdoctoral researchers with aspirations of becoming faculty members in academia, but many seek nonacademic careers due to uncharacterized influences. 

Methods: Based on psycho-social theories for career development and motivation, we developed and conducted a survey to examine the factors that influence commitment to or divergence from conventional academic research careers with 1284 biomedical postdocs across the United States. To further elucidate the benefits, challenges, and strategies for pursuing an academic career, 994 responses were qualitatively analyzed using both content and thematic analyses. 177 unique codes, 20 categories, and 10 subthemes emerged from the data and were generalized into two thematic areas: Life in Academia and Strategies for Success.

Results: We reveal four main outcomes that were largely undefined in the field. (1) The first two years of postdoctoral training are pivotal in the retention of women and URM postdocs in the academic research pipeline. (2) The likelihood of biomedical postdocs choosing an academic research career increases as financial security, mentorship from their PI and their sense of self-worth increase. (3) Unlike their colleagues, many URM postdocs do not expect to associate with the people that they value most in a research-intensive faculty position. (4) We also find that female postdocs reported lower research self-efficacy (belief in research abilities) and lower outcome expectations (belief in the outcomes of research efforts) than men, which also significantly predicts first-author publication rates. 

Conclusions and Discussion: Multiple factors are responsible for URM and female postdocs not choosing to pursue careers in academic research, including the low expectation of finding people of similar background or like-values in academia. For women, lower self-efficacy and outcome expectations compared to their male counterparts were strong predictors for choosing non-academic careers. Interventions addressing such factors in the early stages of postdoctoral training may prevent attrition of underrepresented groups. For advisors and institutions, this work provides a unique perspective from postdoctoral scholars on elements of the academic training path that can be improved to increase retention, career satisfaction, and preparation for the scientific workforce.

Acknowledgements: We acknowledge the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (Award Number UL1TR002384) for support.

Factors that affect postdoctoral trainee persistence in academia

Introduction. Community colleges serve a large proportion of underrepresented minority, first-generation and low-income students and so are ideally positioned to identify potential STEM students (Ma and Baum, 2016). Data also indicates that community college students, even academically talented STEM students, may be underprepared for college success due to limited financial resources, first-generation college student status, or lack of knowledge about STEM-related options in academia and work. In the COVID-19 global pandemic context, challenges are greater, with students reporting delayed graduation (13%), lost jobs, internships or job offers (40%), and expecting to earn less at age 35 (29%) (Acujeo et. al 2020). In STEM too, a majority of undergraduates whose Spring 2020 STEM courses shifted from in-person to remote instruction due to COVID-19 struggled significantly (Means and Neisler, 2020). Increasing evidence suggests that unified, holistic supportive services attuned to individual student needs while promoting integration provide greater benefits to community college students, especially underrepresented minority, first-generation and low-income students, and results in better outcomes as measured by persistence (overall and in STEM) and transfer (Cooper et al., 2014; Kolenvic et al., 2103; Shadduck, 2017). 

This study examines 2 years of data collected on the STEM Scholars program at Oakton Community College during academic years 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, which offered novel programming to serve this underrepresented segment of Oakton students, to examine the critical role that unified holistic support services can play in low income, academically talented underrepresented minority and female STEM students' persistence to degree and in STEM in the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods. We analyzed quantitative data collected from 19 STEM Scholar enrollments and data from Oakton's Office of Research and Planning establishing a control group, consisting of 1,144 full-time and part-time students that first enrolled for fall 2019 and fall 2020 who have taken certain STEM-related courses while scoring at least 300 on math placement exams. We also used qualitative data software analysis tool Atlas.ti to code and analyze qualitative data including participant surveys from 3 different time points for each of 2 cohorts, yearly 1-on-1 interviews with Scholars, a survey and focus group with Scholar mentors, STEM Scholars program records and interviews with STEM Scholars Leaders.

Results. In the COVID-19 context, financial support and unified, holistic support services played an essential role in helping STEM Scholars persist. In particular, among Hispanic/Latinx STEM Scholars, persistence rates were 10% greater from fall 2019 to spring 2020 compared to the control group. Persistence rates for the same group of Hispanic/Latinx STEM Scholars increased to 20% when considering fall 2019 to fall 2020 persistence as compared to Oakton Hispanic/Latinx STEM students not a part of the STEM Scholars Program. Among female participants in the STEM Scholars Program, we find that while their fall 2019 to spring 2020 persistence rates increased by 10% compared to the control group, this trend did not apply to fall 2019 to fall 2020 as their persistence rates were similar to their Oakton STEM counterparts (persistence rates of 60% and 61, respectively). 100% of cohort 2 Scholars persisted fall 2020 to spring 2021. 

Conclusions and Discussion. Financial support and unified, holistic supportive services did not address every challenge STEM Scholars faced, but helped identify problems before they became roadblocks to persistence. Such resource intensive support is not easily scalable, however we suggest mechanisms and institutional changes to more fully support future cohorts of STEM students. 

Acknowledgments. Research was supported by an S-STEM grant provided by The National Science Foundation and Oakton Community College.

Persisting Despite COVID-19 Disruptions: Persistence of Low income, Academically Talented Latinx and Female STEM Community College Students Receiving Financial Support and Unified, Holistic, Supportive Services

A primary motivation for this study was to compare student perceptions and performance within a virtual learning environment to the traditional in-person learning experience at Xavier. In this article, we present quantitative and qualitative analyses of the General Chemistry II course offered during the five-week summer sessions. Furthermore, we compare student performance on exams during the COVID-19 remote learning experience with exam performance over a 3-year period of conventional in-person instruction. In this article, we outline student grades, survey feedback, and learning outcomes. This study was performed to assist us in improving and enriching the course contents and its delivery, as we cope with the transition to a virtual learning environment imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Students Grade Evaluation, Survey Feedback, and Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study of Virtual vs. In-Person Offering of Freshman-Level General Chemistry II Course in Summer at Xavier University of Louisiana as a symposium

In this presentation, the symposium chair introduces the focus of the symposium, which is on factors related to the success of students transitioning to four year institutions, either directly from high school or through transfer from community college. She briefly describes the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation as one of several programs designed to facilitate underrepresented students' postsecondary educational success in STEM fields, and ends by introducing the two speakers, Dr. Peter Riley Bahr and Dr. Kolby Gadd.

Teachable Mentoring Strategies that Benefit Diverse Mentees: Preliminary Evidence from the ‘Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence’ Mentor-Training Program

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